


Birthday

by fangirl_squee



Series: homies help homies, always [29]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-22
Updated: 2013-05-22
Packaged: 2017-12-12 16:36:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/813684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marius bursts into Grantaire’s bedroom at seven in the morning, bouncing a little as his sits down on the bed and jolting Grantaire awake. Marius is in his pyjamas, hair still sticking up in wild tufts from sleep.</p>
<p>“Happy birthday!” says Marius cheerfully.</p>
<p>Grantaire groans and throws his pillow at Marius’ head, but he grins all the same. “Happy birthday to you too.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> For levicastiel on tumblr, who asked for these boys on their birthday (because of course they have the same birthday, because ~*~platonic soulmates~*~ and also I am a sap). There’s a brief reference to Sleepover, but you don't need to have read that to understand this one.

Marius bursts into Grantaire’s bedroom at seven in the morning, bouncing a little as his sits down on the bed and jolting Grantaire awake. Marius is in his pyjamas, hair still sticking up in wild tufts from sleep.

 

“Happy birthday!” says Marius cheerfully.

 

Grantaire groans and throws his pillow at Marius’ head, but he grins all the same. “Happy birthday to you too.”

 

It had been a little strange to realise they were born on the same day. If they were to look up the time stamps on their birth certificates, they would see that they were also both born early in the morning, Grantaire at 7am on the dot and Marius at 8:17am (albeit in different years).

 

Marius beams at him, sitting cross-legged on the bed. “So what are you doing for yours?”

 

“Well, I _was_ going to sleep in,” says Grantaire, “and Enjolras is going to come by, after his late class, but other than that, nothing. You?”

 

“Dinner with Cosette, but nothing until then. My usual class got cancelled, the professor’s sick and his TA’s out of town.”

 

Grantaire stretches his arms, yawning. “In that case, you know what I’m thinking?”

 

“Pancakes?” says Marius.

 

Grantaire smiles. “Not just any pancakes, my special birthday-only pancakes. Way better than regular-day pancakes.”

 

Marius laughs. They head downstairs, and Marius flicks on the radio while he makes their tea. Grantaire sings along as he mixes the pancakes (apple and cinnamon, like Claire used to make him). Marius reads the local paper aloud while they eat, the pages sticking slightly to his syrup-covered fingers.

 

After they’re done, Grantaire pulls as card from the bottom of the pile of papers on the counter, and pushes it across the table to Marius.

 

“I didn’t get you anything, sorry, but here,” says Grantaire.

 

It’s a hand painted card, purples and blues swirling together to make a galaxy. The inside has a sketch of himself and Cosette, faces close together as they smile at each other, along with Grantaire’s slanted scrawl wishing him a ‘happy birthday, ps Cosette told me when you were little you wanted to be an astronaut’.

 

Marius flipped back to admire the design on the front. “Wow, thank you, um, I didn’t get you a card, but I did get you a thing, hang on, it’s upstairs.” He bounds upstairs and then back down again, brandishing something wrapped in plain brown paper. “Here!”

 

Grantaire tears the wrapping open to see two plastic water pistols. He laughs.

 

Marius fidgets a little, tapping on the table in time with the radio. “You were saying the other day about how you used to have them but your parents got rid of them after you moved out, and I saw them, and I thought, you know, Grantaire might like them –“

 

“Marius, thanks,” says Grantaire, “Although you do realise I am going to use these to take you down.”

 

Marius quickly grabs one of the pistols. “I did consider that, yes.”

 

They both run for the kitchen tap at the same time, but Grantaire gets there a little faster. Marius runs upstairs, and Grantaire can hear the groan of the bathroom tap.

 

_Oh, it’s so on_ , thinks Grantaire.

 

They don’t even end up changing out of their pyjamas. At one point during their battle Marius ties a towel around his shoulders like a cape, declaring himself “protector of the upstairs realm”. While he’s pulling a pose for that, Grantaire manages to get him directly in the chest, cackling as his runs to the lounge. He’s built a small fort, pulling couch cushions and an old tablecloth together for a crude shelter.

 

“Surrender!” says Marius.

 

“Never!” replies Grantaire, trying to get him while hiding behind the tablecloth.

 

Marius responds by jumping on the fort, which instantly collapses. Between Grantaire’s soaked pyjamas and the fact that his initial bedhead has only gotten worse during their fight, he looks so ridiculous when he emerges from underneath the tablecloth that Marius can’t help but laugh.

 

“Sorry,” says Marius, putting a hand over his mouth to try and stop himself, “sorry I just –“

 

Grantaire grabs Marius’ pistol and empties the remaining water over Marius’ head. There’s a pause, and they both look each other in the eye, and then Grantaire lets out a snort of laughter, which sets them both off. They both laugh until they can barely breathe, rolling around on the couch cushions.

 

“Okay,” says Grantaire, once he’s calmed down enough to speak, “okay, so this was pretty much the greatest present ever.”

 

Marius grins at him. “I’m glad you liked it.” He looks around at the fallen cushions. “So, do you want to rebuild?”

 

Grantaire grins back at him. “Yeah, but this time let’s make it _bigger_.”

 

The fort is even bigger than the one they’d made when the others had slept over, taking over the entire lounge room. They lie on Grantaire’s quilt and pull Marius’ quit over the top of them, making a smaller fort inside of their bigger one. Their pyjamas are still slightly damp, but it’s warm underneath the quilt.

 

“And now,” says Grantaire, as he flicks on a torch, “we tell ghost stories.”

 

Grantaire tells him the urban legends he heard while travelling – hitch-hiker ghosts and haunted diners. Marius tells him ghost stories he picked up in boarding school – ghost children in the woods, evil spirits in the lake. The stories aren’t scary in the slightest, although it is hard to find things scary when they’re dissolving into giggles every few minutes.

 

Eventually Marius notices the time, and drags himself out of their double-fort to get ready for his date. Grantaire drags their bedding back upstairs and does the dishes while he waits for Marius to get out of the shower.

 

Grantaire leans on the door frame of Marius’ room and helps him decide between two sweaters (he always tells Marius to go for the blue one, it’s Cosette’s favourite colour after all) before he gets in the shower for his own date.

 

Marius bangs on the door just as he’s getting out. “Cosette’s here, I’m headed out!”

 

“Okay,” Grantaire yells back, “happy birthday!”

 

Marius laughs. “Happy birthday to you too!”

 

The house seems very quiet after Marius slams out the door, and Grantaire’s pretty happy that Enjolras arrives soon after.

 

“Hey, happy birthday,” says Enjolras when Grantaire opens to door.

 

Grantaire smiles at him. “Thanks.”

 

“Sorry I couldn’t get away earlier,” says Enjolras, hovering in the doorway.

 

“That’s okay, Marius and I had a thing anyway,” Grantaire reaches out for his hand, and pulls Enjolras inside. “We can make up the time now.”

 

 

(It becomes something of a tradition after that first year. They eat pancakes, Grantaire gives Marius a handmade card and Marius gives him a small gift in return, and then they spend the day together.

 

Sometimes someone else will be with them, or they’ll have to cut the day short for work, but at 7am Marius will bound into Grantaire’s room to wish him happy birthday and Grantaire will say the same in return.)

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is always loved: fangirl-squee.tumblr.com/ask


End file.
